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The  Bible 
in  Foreign 
Missions 


American  Bible  Society 

Bible  House,  Astor  Place 
New  York 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2019  with  funding  from 
Columbia  University  Libraries 


https://archive.org/details/bibleinforeignmiOOamer 


The  Bible  in  Foreign 
Missions 

IN  the  year  1912  the  American  Bible  So¬ 
ciety  issued  4,049,610  Bibles,  Testaments, 
Psalters,  separate  Gospels,  and  other  portions 
of  Scripture.  Out  of  this  total  2,224,099  vol¬ 
umes  were  put  into  circulation  in  foreign 
lands.  Lands  which  are  known  as  pagan  re¬ 
ceived  1,717,935  of  these  books,  the  remainder 
for  the  most  part  going  into  territories  where 
the  prevailing  form  of  Christianity  deprives 
the  poor  of  the  written  Word  or  where  Islam 
denies  the  redeeming  power  of  Christ  and 
man’s  need  of  it. 

The  Society’s  Agencies  Abroad 

For  greater  efficiency  and  precision  the 
Society  has  organized  twelve  Agencies  in 
foreign  lands  mentioned  below,  with  the 
date  of  establishment  of  each  and  the  number 
of  issues  in  1912  and  the  total  issues. 

Founded  Issues  in  Issues  from 

Levant  (Turkey,  Syria,  and 

Egypt).. . . 

La  Plata  (South  American  re¬ 
publics,  except  Brazil  and 

Venezuela) . 

Brazil . . 

Japan . . . . . 

China . . . 

Mexico . . 

Korea . 

West  Indies . 

Venezuela . . . 

Slam. . . 

Central  America . . 

Pbilippine  Islands . . . 

Total . . 


1012. 

beginning 

1836 

167,688 

3,309,848 

1864 

64,699 

1,226,222 

1876 

70,594 

958,368 

1876 

133,055 

2,637.162 

1876 

1,367,404 

15,919,326 

1878 

19,431 

810,560 

1882 

88,214 

545,972 

1882 

72,409 

522,514 

1888 

6,463 

70,381 

1890 

98,556 

860,832 

1892 

31,472 

297,125 

1899 

53,742 

1,066,537 

2,167,727 

28,224,847 

3 


Bible  Distribution  Beyond  the  Fields 
of  the  Agencies 

In  some  foreign  lands  outside  of  the  Agency 
fields  Christian  workers  are  supplied  with 
Scriptures  by  the  Society  directly.  Thus,  in 
some  countries  of  Europe,  in  Arabia,  in  Per¬ 
sia,  in  Africa,  east  and  west  and  south,  and 
in  the  Micronesian  Islands  and  the  territory 
of  Hawaii,  such  aid  is  rendered.  The  num¬ 
ber  of  volumes  circulated  in  such  lands  in 
1912,  so  far  as  reported,  was  55,827. 

The  Languages 

The  Bibles  used  in  the  foreign  fields  are  in 
about  one  hundred  languages.  Of  these  sev¬ 
enteen  are  Chinese  dialects  and  styles.  A 
missionary  in  China,  much  impressed  by  the 
effort  of  the  Society  to  reach  the  masses  with 
the  Scriptures,  wrote  a  few  years  ago  to  the 
American  Bible  Society:  “Your  Society  has 
been  more  endeared  to  me  for  the  help  it  has 
rendered  in  publishing  the  Scriptures  in  the 
Colloquial,  and  placing  the  Bible  within  the 
reach  of  our  church  members,  Sunday  schools, 
and  Bible  classes.” 

Printing  Bibles  Abroad 

In  1912,  out  of  the  total  issues  of  the  So¬ 
ciety,  1,941,751  books  were  issued  by  the 
foreign  Agencies,  being  printed  by  contract 
on  mission  and  other  presses  in  Constanti¬ 
nople,  Beirut,  Bangkok,  Shanghai,  Chentu, 
Weihsien,  Foochow,  Hinghwa,  Yokohama,  and 
Seoul.  The  contract  printing  for  the  Bible 
Society  forms  an  important  part  in  the  sup¬ 
port  of  several  mission  presses. 

4 


The  Distribution  of  Scriptures 

Abroad 

Bibles,  except  they  reach  the  people  who 
need  them,  remain  unfruitful.  An  essential 
part  of  the  work  of  the  Bible  Society  is  the 
maintenance  of  colporteurs  to  go  into  high¬ 
ways  and  hedges  and  persuade  men.  For¬ 
tunately,  the  Bible  Societies  have  special  fit¬ 
ness  for  such  a  work.  They  go  as  representa¬ 
tives  of  Christendom,  with  no  denominational 
badge,  bearing  the  royal  banner  of  the  cross. 
They  go  lightly  equipped,  like  the  shepherd 
boy  with  his  sling  and  a  few  stones  gathered 
from  the  bed  of  the  brook.  Moreover,  they 
who  carry  these  books  for  the  service  of  the 
Lord  are  a  great  host.  In  1912  the  American 
Bible  Society  reported  the  employment  of  810 
persons,  men  and  women,  as  Bible  distrib¬ 
utors  in  other  lands.  And  these  are  believers, 
able  to  give  a  reason  for  the  hope  that  is  in 
them,  and  to  tell  of  their  own  experience  of 
saving  grace.  They  supplement  the  story  of 
the  preacher,  they  co-operate  with  every  one 
who  loves  the  name  of  the  Lord.  They  go 
bearing  heavy  burdens;  enduring  hardship; 
suffering  persecution  and  abuse;  they  are 
arrested  and  haled  before  magistrates  and 
cast  into  prisons;  they  live  on  the  simplest 
food,  and  they  are  literally  worn  out  in  the 
Master’s  service. 

The  Missionary  and  the  Bible 
Colporteur 

These  men  do  real  missionary  work  whose 
value  is  acknowledged  by  all  missionaries. 
One  missionary  in  China  says:  “The  Bible 


work  is  not  only  a  valuable  adjunct  to  evangel¬ 
istic  effort  in  China  and  elsewhere,  but  without 
it  all  our  work  would  be  sounding  brass  and 
tinkling  cymbal.”  A  missionary  in  Persia 
writes:  “The  Book  goes  farther  than  the 
missionary.  After  the  tour  of  the  missionary 
the  Scriptures  sold  remain,  bearing  their 
silent  testimony  to  his  teaching.  Every  now 
and  then  we  run  across  a  New  Testament  in 
some  unexpected  quarter,  and  find  that  it  is 
being  read.”  One  in  Turkey  speaks  from 
another  point  of  view  in  saying,  “We  regard 
our  Bible  colporteurs,  whom  you  sustain,  as 
pioneers  in  evangelistic  work  here — as  the  suc¬ 
cessors  of  John  the  Baptist  in  this  wilderness 
of  races  and  of  faiths  which  jostle  one  another 
in  our  wide  fields.” 

They  who  engage  in  Bible  distribution  in 
lands  where  Christ  is  pot  known  are  true 
missionaries,  laboring  to  expel  selfishness  and 
its  train  of  sins,  and  to  implant  in  the  hearts . 
of  the  people  a  passion  for  what  is  pure  and 
right. 


The  Bible  in  Missions 

Dr.  Alexander  McLaren  once  said:  “The 
work  of  the  Bible  Society  is  the  necessary 
supplement  of  all  our  missionary  work.  ‘  What 
God  hath  joined  together,  let  not  man  put 
asunder  ’ ;  but  if  we  set  before  us  the  alter¬ 
native  —  which,  thank  God,  we  have  not  —  a 
missionary  without  a  Bible,  or  a  Bible  with¬ 
out  a  missionary,  I  say,  ‘  Give  me  the  Bible, 
and  we  will  do  without  the  missionary.’  ” 

As  to  the  place  held  by  the  Holy  Scrip¬ 
tures  with  the  missionary  himself,  it  is  unique, 

6 


supreme.  They  furnish  him  with  his  com¬ 
mission,  his  great  and  sole  reason  for  being  a 
missionary.  The  Bible  is  the  missionary’s 
life,  his  message,  his  armor,  his  two-edged 
sword.  Its  truth  is  in  him  a  quenchless 
spring.  He  has  found  the  fountain  of  living 
waters  and  he  knows  it.  He  is  tempted  in  as 
many  directions  as  there  are  varying  phases 
of  life  around  appealing  for  speedy  and  human 
remedying ;  but  he  knows  that  it  is  the  Bible 
that  has  ‘  made  him  to  differ,  ’  and  that  the 
remedy  it  proposes  and  the  life  its  truths  im¬ 
part  are  the  only  things  he  has  for  man. 

A  missionary  in  Turkey  emphasizes  the 
place  of  the  Bible  in  the  daily  life  of  the  newly 
won  followers  of  Christ.  He  says:  “The 
Bible  enters  so  much  into  every  part  of  our 
work  that  it  is  impossible  to  give  a  report  of 
the  work  of  the  Bible  Society  apart  from  our 
other  work.  In  the  church  or  in  the  family, 
in  the  schools,  the  orphanages,  the  hospital, 
or  in  the  villages,  the  Bible  is  the  one  book 
that  is  read  by  all.  ” 

The  late  Dr.  Pease  of  Micronesia,  speaking 
of  the  people  of  the  Gilbert  Islands,  stated 
that  from  the  Bible  they  learn  morality  even 
without  a  teacher.  To  discard  intoxicants 
and  tobacco  and  to  observe  the  Lord’s  day, 
are  duties  which  they  easily  find  out  for 
themselves  and  rigidly  practice.  Lying  and 
licentiousness,  their  former  habits,  become 
at  once  causes  for  excommunication  from  the 
church. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  House,  of  the  American 
Board’s  Balkan  Mission,  describes  a  case  that 
is  but  one  of  many  thousands  in  foreign  mis- 


sion  fields.  He  says:  “Near  Samokov  in 
Bulgaria  there  is  a  little  town  which  years  ago 
seemed  to  be  in  almost  hopeless  darkness. 
The  first  ray  of  light,  as  far  as  we  know,  came 
from  a  New  Testament  purchased  by  a  poor 
lame  shoemaker  who  says  of  himself  that  he 
was  a  very  bad  man  before  that  purchase.  The 
reading  of  that  Testament  seems  to  have  al¬ 
together  transformed  his  life,  to  the  wonder 
of  all.  From  that  small  seed  of  the  Word  a 
plenteous  harvest  is  now  being  reaped  in 
that  town.  ” 

Among  people  of  different  races  and  in 
regions  separated  by  the  diameter  of  the 
earth  the  Bible  has  transforming  power.  The 
vital  need  of  every  missionary  is  to  have  at 
hand  the  book  in  the  language  of  the  people 
among  whom  he  is  stationed. 

Bible  Translation  by  Missionaries 

In  Asia  the  many  tongued,  the  translation 
of  the  Scriptures  represented  the  first  gun  in 
the  conflict  for  the  overthrow  of  paganism, 
superstition,  and  unbelief.  Long  before  China 
opened  even  five  ports  to  western  civilization, 
far-seeing  missionaries  outside  the  walls  were 
struggling  with  its  difficult  language  and  get¬ 
ting  a  version  of  the  Bible  ready  for  the  day 
when  the  people  should  begin  to  wake  up,  and 
were  receiving  aid  from  the  American  Bible 
Society  in  this  work.  In  India  and  Burma 
missionaries  as  early  as  1820,  working  in  the 
Tamil,  Telugu,  Marathi,  Burmese  and  various 
other  versions,  asked  and  received  aid  from 
the  American  Bible  Society.  When  Turkey, 

Persia,  and  Syria  were  little  more  to  Amer- 

8 


icans  than  names  from  ancient  history,  Amer¬ 
ican  missionaries  were  supplementing  the 
archaiac, antiquated  Armenian  versionby  trans¬ 
lating  the  Scriptures  into  the  speech  of  the 
people ;  were  adding  to  the  ancient  Peshitto 
version  used  by  Nestorians,  one  in  the  modern 
Syriac  which  common  folk  could  understand ; 
were  bringing  into  being  a  new  and  more  in¬ 
telligible  Turkish  version,  and  an  Arabic  ver¬ 
sion  which  has  become  standard.  Of  the 
latter  version  a  veteran  missionary  wrote  to 
the  American  Bible  Society,  “The  blades  of 
Damascus  were  ever  as  famous  as  those  of 
Toledo,  but  the  fame  of  your  Scriptures,  the 
‘sword  of  the  Spirit,’  in  Arabic,  printed  at 
Beirut,  has  surpassed  them  both ;  for  they  are 
to  be  found  in  almost  every  country  where 
the  Arabic  is  spoken  or  known  as  the  repos¬ 
itory  of  the  Koran.  ” 

Giving  Letters  to  Pagan  Languages 

Missionaries  have  not  only  enriched  lan¬ 
guages  by  giving  them  the  Bible,  but  have 
given  destitute  languages  letters.  Of  such 
was  Mr.  Ousley,  born  a  slave  in  one  of  our 
Southern  states,  a  devoted  and  efficient  mis¬ 
sionary  of  the  American  Board  in  Portuguese 
East  Africa.  He  gave  the  Tonga  tribes  let¬ 
ters  and  then  some  of  the  Gospels,  and  his 
work  was  made  available  to  all  people  using 
that  tongue  by  the  American  Bible  Society, 
which  printed  it.  Dr.  Hiram  Bingham  was 
another  of  the  missionaries  whose  privilege  it 
has  been  to  endow  a  people  with  letters.  The 
Gilbert  Islands  in  Micronesia  had  no  alphabet. 

Dr.  Bingham  gave  them  an  alphabet  and  then 

9 


the  whole  Bible.  His  work  too  was  given  to 
the  multitude  by  the  American  Bible  Society, 
which  has  printed  nine  editions  of  the  Gil- 
bertese  Bible. 

The  Bible  Society  and  the  Mis¬ 
sionary 

Missionary  work  is  commonly  regarded  as 
including  the  pulpit,  the  school,  and  the  hos¬ 
pital.  The  literary  part  of  the  missionary’s 
labor  and  the  source  of  the  Bibles  circulated 
are  rarely  mentioned,  perhaps  because  these 
make  no  noise.  Literary  work  flourishes  in 
the  quiet  library  of  scholarly  writers.  If  the 
literary  worker  translates  the  Bible  he  is 
mentioned  with  approval  and  respect,  but  his 
translation  work,  often  aided  with  money  from 
the  Bible  Society,  would  remain  on  his  library 
table  were  it  not  for  that  Society.  Or  if 
printed  at  great  expense  by  his  mission,  it 
would  remain  a  purely  local  and  very  costly 
work. 

The  Bible  Society  is  the  publicity  depart¬ 
ment  for  Bible  versions  in  the  foreign  mis¬ 
sionary  field.  It  takes  from  the  translator’s 
table  the  one  precious  copy  of  a  new  version 
and  transforms  this  fruitage  of  missionary 
life  into  printed  books  which  will  teach  truth 
and  wisdom  to  tens  and  hundreds  of  thousands. 
Dr.  Elias  Riggs,  sixty  years  ago,  translated 
the  Bible  into  modern  Armenian.  The  Amer¬ 
ican  Bible  Society  alone  has  printed  and  cir¬ 
culated  489,782  copies  of  that  version.  More¬ 
over,  the  Bible  Society  gives  wings  to  a  ver¬ 
sion  made  for  one  denomination  that  it  may 

reach  missions  of  every  denomination  wher- 

10 


ever  the  language  of  that  version  is  used. 
Eli  Smith  and  Cornelius  Van  Dyck,  with  aid 
from  the  American  Bible  Society,  translated 
the  Bible  into  Arabic  for  missions  ‘in  Syria 
and  Egypt;  but  that  splendid  version  of  the 
Bible  printed  by  the  American  Bible  Society 
goes  to  missions  wherever  Mohammedans  are 
found:  in  Asia,  Africa,  North  and  South 
America,  and  the  islands  of  the  great  oceans. 
The  work  of  the  Bible  Society  that  makes  the 
Bible  versions  effective  is  one  of  the  links 
which  bind  together  foreign  missionaries  and 
the  American  Bible  Society.  Not  long  ago  a 
missionary  in  China  wrote  to  the  American 
Bible  Society:  “  Dr.  Hykes  modestly  refers  to 
the  work  of  the  American  Bible  Society  as  a 
valuable  ‘adjunct’  to  evangelistic  effort  in 
China.  From  my  standpoint  as  a  missionary 
I  would  not  speak  of  it  as  an  ‘  adjunct,  ’  but 
as  lying  at  the  very  foundation  of  all  of  our 
evangelistic  work.” 

The  Appeal  of  an  Unlimited  Range 

of  Work 

The  Bible  Society  offers  a  wider  range  of 
Christian  efficiency  than  any  missionary  board. 
It  transcends  denominational  lines  and  ex¬ 
tends  an  offer  and  an  opportunity  for  reaching 
out  to  places  and  people  otherwise  inaccessi¬ 
ble.  Your  denomination  may  perhaps  have 
no  mission  in  Korea,  in  South  America,  in 
Turkey,  in  Bulgaria.  There  is  no  convenient 
way  by  which  you  can  do  anything  to  promote 
the  kingdom  of  our  God  in  those  regions 
through  any  agency  in  which  your  denomina¬ 
tion  is  represented  other  than  the  Bible  Soci- 

11 


ety.  So  while  your  organized  missionary  so¬ 
cieties  are  well  engaged  elsewhere,  in  the 
Bible  Society  is  a  way  by  which  you  may  take 
satisfaction  in  doing  something  for  these  parts 
of  the  world. 

It  also  stands  to  reason  that  in  work  which 
is  common  to  the  Bible  Society  and  the  mis¬ 
sionary  societies,  supporters  of  the  mission¬ 
ary  societies  in  their  good  work  in  foreign 
missions  should  bear  their  full  part  of  the  ex¬ 
pense  involved  in  carrying  out  the  necessary 
undertaking  of  increasing  knowledge  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  among  the  Gentiles. 

What  Are  You  To  Do  about  this 

Appeal  ? 

The  history  of  the  American  Bible  Society 
is  a  history  of  the  wonderful  blessing  of  God 
upon  this  effort  to  carry  the  Holy  Scriptures 
to  all  nations.  It  is  also  a  vision  of  the  un¬ 
dimmed  glory  springing  from  the  effective¬ 
ness  of  the  Bible  to  turn  the  hearts  of  men. 
“Dan"’  Crawford,  in  “Thinking  Black,”  tells 
this  story  of  a  young  man  converted  by  the 
mere  reading  of  St.  John’s  Gospel.  This  he 
had  got  in  the  mission  school,  but  he  went  on 
his  way  in  sin,  reckoning  without  God  and  the 
Word  of  God,  still  clinging,  however,  to  his 
copy  of  John’s  Gospel.  One  day  out  of  the 
pages  of  “John  of  the  Bosom”  came  the  call 
“  Follow  me  !  ”  “  The  gun  cotton  of  that  Gos¬ 
pel  came  in  contact  with  the  tinder  of  his  re¬ 
bellion,  and  this  young  man  was  literally  ex¬ 
ploded  into  the  Kingdom.”  He  could  only 
explain  his  conversion  in  these  quaint,  choice 

words:  “I  was  startled  to  find  that  Christ 

12 


could  speak  Chiluba.  I  heard  him  speak  out 
of  the  printed  page,  and  what  he  said  was 
‘Follow  me’.”  Then  this  ignorant  African 
entered  the  new  era  of  reading  the  old  book. 
Now  God  is  staring  at  him  from  every  page 
and  showing  him  his  duty  simply  and  satis¬ 
factorily,  his  soul  settled  for  eternity  on  the 
living  Word  of  God. 

You  Should  Share  in  this  Work 

The  dissemination  of  the  Bible  in  pagan 
lands  is  God’s  own  remedy  for  degeneration 
among  those  races  who  know  Him  not.  The 
missionaries  of  the  American  Board  in  Ma¬ 
dras  were  convinced  of  this  in  1839  when  they 
sent  an  irresistible  appeal  to  the  American 
Bible  Society  thus  worded,  “We  feel  con¬ 
strained  to  ask  you  to  fill  the  censers  in  our 
hands  with  fire  and  incense,  that  we  may  run 
quickly  among  the  people  and  stay  the  plague 
which  is  abroad  among  them.” 

That  cry  comes  to  the  American  Bible  So¬ 
ciety  more  and  more  persistently  from  the  dif¬ 
ferent  countries  in  the  foreign  field.  In  1912 
orders  for  300,000  volumes  of  Scripture  had 
to  be  refused  by  the  Bible  Society  Agent  in 
China  because  he  had  not  the  money  to  print 
them.  Let  not  such  a  terrible  accident  occur 
again.  It  is  a  time  for  individuals,  for  Sun¬ 
day  schools,  for  churches  to  realize  that  they 
can  have  a  share  in  the  great  work  here  briefly 
described.  The  widow  of  a  Presbyterian  mis¬ 
sionary  in  Mexico  has  just  written  to  a  Secre¬ 
tary  of  the  Bible  Society:  “Recently  it  has 
been  my  pleasure  to  make  my  three  sons,  all 

born  in  old  Mexico,  Life  Members  of  the 

13 


grand  Society  of  Bible  work.  The  lads  are 
fifteen,  eighteen,  and  twenty-three  years  of 
age,  but  I  wish  them  all  to  be  associated  with 
the  Bible  work  all  of  the  years  of  their  life, 
and  it  may  be  that  will  help  to  control  their 
interest  and  service  for  God." 

Will  not  you  contribute  $30  to  the  Ameri¬ 
can  Bible  Society  and  so  become  a  Life  Mem¬ 
ber,  entitled  to  receive  all  its  reports,  as  well 
as  its  monthly  literature  ?  Will  not  you  con¬ 
tribute  to  the  Society  on  the  annuity  plan; 
making  a  gift  to  the  Society,  that  is  to  say, 
conditioned  on  receiving  a  stated  sum  annu¬ 
ally  during  your  lifetime  ?  And  you  who 
would  fain  continue  to  labor  for  the  Kingdom 
after  leaving  this  life — will  not  you  help  this 
work  by  bequeathing  to  the  American  Bible 
Society  a  sum  for  Bible  distribution  ?  In  one 
of  these  ways,  or  in  some  other  way,  Chris¬ 
tians  should  unflinchingly  carry  on  this  Bible 
work,  which  after  all  is  God’s,  for  its  initi¬ 
ative  came  from  God  and  not  from  man. 

May  all  who  read  this  story  pray  for  the 
faith  and  the  clear  vision  which  shall  make 
members  in  the  Church  of  Christ  naturally 
and  simply  fellow-laborers  with  God  in  the 
great  work  which  he  is  carrying  on  through¬ 
out  the  world. 


18, 1913;  26m 


14 


Foreign  Agencies  of  the  American 

Bible  Society 

In  the  Order  of  their  Establishment 


Levant  Agency. 

Rev.  Marcellus  Bowen,  D.D.,  Bible  House,  Constan¬ 
tinople. 

La  Plata  Agency : 

Rev.  Francis  G.  Penzotti,  Casilla  de  Correo  304,  Lavalle 
1467,  Buenos  Ayres,  Argentina. 

Japan  Agency  : 

Rev.  H.  W,  Schwartz,  M.D.,  Yokohama. 

C h  ina  Agency  : 

Rev.  John  R.  Hyres,  D.D.,  14  Kiuklang  Road,  Shang¬ 
hai. 

Brazil  Agency: 

Rev.  H.  C.  Tucker,  Caixa  454,  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

Mexico  Agency : 

Mrs,  F.  S.  Hamilton,  Box  1373,  Mexico  City, 

Korea  Agency: 

Rev.  S.  a.  Beck,  Seoul. 

West  Indies  Agency: 

Rev.  W.  F.  Jordan,  1761  Brooklyn  Ave.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Siam  and  Laos  Agency  : 

Rev.  Robert  Irwin,  Bangkok,  Siam. 

Central  Atnerica  and  Panama  Agency: 

Rev.  James  Hayter,  Guatemala  City,  Guatemala. 

Philippines  Agency  : 

Rev.  J.  L.  McLaughlin,  Manila. 

Venezuela  Agency : 

Rev.  Gerard  A.  Bailly,  Caracas,  Venezuela. 


